John 8:21-24

John 8:21-24 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins.”

Today we see Christ attempting to penetrate the darkness of hard hearts. Earlier we read: I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come. You are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 7:33-34 He was saying as long as you live according to the fleshly patterns this world and the desires of your hearts, the realm of your natural senses, you will not know me. Now He hammers away again at this idea: Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away. . . Where I go, you cannot come." We will see those exact four words three additional times in John: I AM GOING AWAY! (14:28, 16:7) There is a controlled yet extreme urgency in the voice of the Lamb of God: listen to me: All you know about is what you can touch, hear, breathe, see, and embrace while you walk this earth. Come to me and partake of me: the bread of life, the living water. Find me while I may be found: touch, listen, breathe, embrace. If you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins.

Old Testament prophets and New Testament writers often used metaphors as did Christ to depict spiritual realities. The Spirit seems to try to reach people at a deeper level of consciousness. Isaiah wrote: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

God wants us to realize our

hope is not in reforming our personhood or our humanness: our hope is in Jesus Christ the divine and Holy One. We are totally reliant upon his rescue operation. Outside of him and his death on the cross, we are of this world because we have all inherited Adam and Eve's DNA, the sinful nature and inclination to do wrong continually. We question God's authority. Even after we are Christians, we stray and want to stretch the limits, like naughty, rebellious children raised by law rather than grace, we take our eyes off Jesus, become distracted easily and become rule breakers. Did God really say, Don't eat of that tree? Can't I have just a little bite? Is a little bit of infidelity wrong? A white lie isn't a real lie, is it? I'm not gossiping; that's a prayer request. While the cat's away, the mice will play. . .

Paul, an Apostle called on the road to Damascus, took Christ's words to the Gentile world through the power of the Holy Spirit. He said what Jesus said: Do not live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:2-5) Oh, that we might purpose in our hearts to obey the words of Christ, to realize this world is not our permanent dwelling place. There are victories to be won in his name. Yet even Paul used figurative language. His race analogy appears seven times in his writings such as these passages: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. (Acts 20:24) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1) Let us run the race today with perseverance even if it is a low crawl. God will help us. He calls us daughters and sons. You call him Abba, Father. Beloved of God, run to him and for him.

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